The US market along with the rest of financial markets around the world for the most part has been struggling this week. Unfortunately, conditions don’t seem to be improving. Today, we’ll talk about why markets are struggling and take a close look at a couple of stocks that may be worth watching during the declines.

Why Markets Are Struggling

The reason markets are struggling is pretty simple to explain. The reality is that this is one of those rare cases in which positive economic conditions cause negative market movement. We recently received news that the US jobs market rebounded in a big way in October. While this is great economic data, it’s causing fear for investors. The bottom line is that positive economic data will likely lead to the Federal Reserve increasing its rate in December. When this happens, consumers will spend more money on interest and less elsewhere, which will take a toll on corporate earnings. Hence, investors are balancing their portfolios for the added risk. Nonetheless, there are a couple of stocks that are well worth watching during the declines…

While most stocks are experiencing declines today, BIOC is having a great day in the market. Earlier today, it was announced that Biocept has received a European patent for devices and methods of cell capture and analysis. The new patent increases the intellectual property owned by BIOC and will allow for more innovation in medicine, which will likely lead to more profits in the long run. In a statement, Lyle Arnold, Ph.D, the Chief Scientific Officer at Biocept had the following to say…

“The issuance of this patent further expands our international patent portfolio to include the use of antibodies in the capture of cancer cells in combination with our microchannel for which multiple U.S. And international patents have been granted. Our antibody cocktail is a key part of our patented, proprietary method to capture and analyze cells from a wide variety of tumor types. In addition, this patent expands our IP protection for the use of a simple blood sample and other biological sample types in obtaining valuable biomarker information that can be used by physicians to personalize the treatment of patients with cancer.”

All in all, things are looking overwhelmingly positive for Biocept at the moment and the stock is likely to continue heading in a positive direction.

XOMA has been doing incredibly well in the market as of late as well. The company recently initiated the phase 2 study of XOMA 358, a drug that is designed to reduce instances of hypoglycemia. In the phase 1 study, the drug did incredibly well. As a result, investors became incredibly excited upon the announcement of the Phase 2 study initiation. Based on what I observed from Phase 1, there’s a reason for the excitement. Phase 2 is likely going to produce positive news, which will prove to be a catalyst for the stock. So, this is another one to watch for opportunities during the declines.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, market conditions are currently overwhelmingly poor. While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, I have to admit that I don’t see much positivity coming back to the market in the near future. As the Fed increases interest rates, we can expect to see more declines. However, there are always opportunities for growth. If you know of any outside of BIOC and XOMA, let us know in the comments below!

Joshua Rodriguez is the owner and founder of CNA Finance. He is also a partner here at Modest Money. His analysis has been featured on Investing.com, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, Google News, and many others. To connect with Joshua, follow him on Twitter @CNAFinance.